By Sharon Goshen
Next week, staff from the headquarters of the Chabad Youth Organization’s Terror Victims Project (CTVP) will be visiting the homes of 2,800 families of terror victims living in Israel. They will bring them Purim joy and the chance to perform its commandments, as well as raising their spirits. This week, a drive to find enough volunteers from around the country will be completed.
The visits of Chabad shluchim to these families on Purim has become an annual tradition. Many families express their gratitude and appreciation for the fact that Chabad has not forgotten them on the festivals or during the rest of the year. Many Chabad Houses involve their supporters and participants in their shiurim in this project. At the same time, many Chabad Chassidic families also take part, bringing their children dressed in Purim costumes with them to add to the feeling of festival joy.
The director of CTVP, Rabbi Menachem Kutner, notes that when the volunteers come back from their visits to the families, they are very moved and they understand the importance of these encounters, as well as the depth of gratitude that they receive each time.
The families and the terror victims themselves do not stop thanking the Chabad Youth Organization for arranging these visits and giving them the feeling that they have not forgotten them.
The director of the Chabad Youth Organization and Agudas Chassidei Chabad in Israel, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Ahronov, reported that the volunteers bring mishloach manos and booklets explaining the meaning of Purim. In some places, the families are invited to Megillah readings and there are even Purim parties for children and their parents. Low-income families are invited to the homes of Chabad volunteers and take an active part in the festivities.
“Your Activities Are Very Important”
“Don’t stay home. If you have the chance and the time to go and visit some families, please don’t hesitate,” says Rachel Ochana, mother of Shimon Ochana, a Border Policeman who was mortally wounded in the neighborhood of Gilo in Jerusalem by sniper fire from Beit Jala nine years ago. When Shimon arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced “clinically dead,” and the doctors gave him no chance of survival. Miraculously, however, he recovered and even went on to get married. Among those honored with a blessing under the wedding canopy was Rabbi Zalman Garelik, director of the Chabad House in Beersheva, who has been in touch with the family throughout this time.
Rachel recalls the day of the sniper attack: “The doctors told us that the chances of anyone staying alive after they have gotten a bullet in the heart is 0.3%, but we didn’t lose faith. We never stopped praying, and the miracle did happen. Shimon went into the hospital dead and came out alive. We received an amazing gift.”
During the difficult period of Shimon’s long recovery, Chabad volunteers were always on hand and they continue to visit the Ochana family in Beersheva on every festival – usually with a modest gift. Rachel calls the volunteers “the angels of Chabad,” and she says that they make her very happy. “Rabbi Zalman Garelik never forgets to invite us to every event and party that he makes at the Chabad House,” she says. “And he encourages us throughout the year. There’s no doubt that your activities are very important. May there be many more like you,” she concludes the conversation with great emotion.
A Bereaved Father: “Your Visits Really Raise Our Spirits”
While Rachel Ochana can enjoy her son and her little baby grandson, many other families are not so fortunate. Many of them have lost children in terror attacks against IDF soldiers and civilians. One example is the story of David Emmett of Beit Shean, whose son Boaz, Hy’d, was killed in an attack on the IDF checkpoint at the Erez Junction six years ago. Three terrorists, dressed in army uniforms, infiltrated the checkpoint and starting shooting. Four soldiers lost their lives, and four others were wounded.
Capt. Boaz Emmett, 24, was the first soldier killed in that morning’s attack. The three terrorists shot him at pointblank range while he was standing next to his tank, killing him outright. The residents of the northern community of Beit Shean were devastated by this tragedy. The local branch of the Chabad Youth Organization, run by Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz, supported the family during the bleak period of the shiva and its aftermath. Every festival, they visit them at home, give them gifts, find out how they are, and offer help.
“These visits raise our spirits a lot,” David Emmett says. “We are a religious family, and we always enjoy it when Rabbi Shmuel Reinetz and Rabbi Yaakov Shmuelevitz of Chabad come to visit us. They create a pleasant atmosphere and warm up this house. They always bolster our spirits with teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. You are a ray of light in these difficult days. The Chabad House also puts the anniversary of our son’s death on their calendar and its staff always attends the memorial ceremony that we hold each year.”
David relates that he was always in touch with Chabad but that his connection with them has only become stronger. He has issued the following appeal to potential volunteers throughout the country: “Even a short visit can raise the spirits of a bereaved family for a long time. Don’t hesitate to join the volunteers and bring light and joy to the families of terror victims.”
